The photo above is from an article on a French-language website. It says that the object was found two weeks ago by a French tourist, who gave it to a boat captain, who only gave it to the authorities on Tuesday, May 24. The piece is 80 cm by 40 cm and was discovered on a small island called L’ile aux Bernaches, which lies within the main reef surrounding Mauritius. It is now in the possession of the National Coast Guard, who will pass along photos to the Malaysians and, if they deem it likely to be a part of the missing plane, will send experts to collect it. (According to a second story here.)
The photograph above is the only one that seems to be available so far, and is quite low-res, but it seems to lack any visible barnacles, but has quite a lot of the roughness that barnacles leave behind after they’ve detached, as seen in the Mossel Bay piece. Perhaps worth noting that so far, pieces found on islands (Réunion, Rodrigues) have had substantial goose barnacle populations living on them, while pieces found on the African mainland have been bare. This piece breaks that trend.
Also worth noting, I think, is that all of the objects discovered so far were found by tourists, with the exception of the flaperon, which was found during a beach cleaning of the kind that only happens an tourist destinations. Drift models predict that a lot of the debris should have come ashore on the east coast of Madagascar, but this is not a place that tourists generally frequent. There are also large stretches of the southern African coast that probably see little tourism. All of which is to say that a concerted effort to sweep remote beaches should turn up a lot of MH370 debris.
I haven’t seen any speculation yet as to which part of the plane this latest piece might have come from–any ideas?
UPDATE 5/25/16: In a surprising coincidence, another piece of potential debris has also turned up on Mauritius. According to Ion News, the object was found by a Coast Guard foot patrol along a beach at Gris-Gris, the southernmost point on the island. It was found resting about six meters from the water.
UPDATE 5/26/16: In another surprising turn of events, Australia’s Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chesterhas issued a media release in which he “confirmed reports that three new pieces of debris—two in Mauritius and one in Mozambique—have been found and are of interest in connection to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.”
The release goes on:
“The Malaysian Government is yet to take custody of the items, however as with previous items, Malaysian officials are arranging collection and it is expected the items will be brought to Australia for examination,” Mr Chester said. “These items of debris are of interest and will be examined by experts.”
This means of announcing findings related to MH370 marks a departure for the Australian government, which in the past has provided updates from the ATSB (Australia Transport Safety Board) itself. The items are picture below, courtesy of Kathy Mosesian at VeritasMH370:
Meanwhile, a reader has provided an image analysis of the second Mauritius fragment in order to provide a sense of scale:
He observes: “Some rough scaling puts it at around 14 by 26 inches. Those boulders in the other photo look like pebbles; makes it look the size of one cent piece. Note the increasing curvature left to right; ups the bet on a chunk of flap!”
UPDATE 5/27/16: Another piece turned up yesterday, making it four altogether since Wednesday. I think this qualifies as a “debris storm.” At the rate stuff is turning up, there should be a lot more to come. There hasn’t even been an organized search yet!
The BBC reports:
Luca Kuhn von Burgsdorff contacted the BBC on Thursday to say he found the fragment on the Macaneta peninsula.
The authorities have been notified. The piece must be examined by the official investigation team in Australia.
Experts say it is consistent with where previous pieces of debris from the missing plane have been found.
Mr von Burgsdorff took two photographs of the item on 22 May, and sent them to the BBC after reading a story on Thursday about other debris finds in the region.
He said the pieces were “reasonably light, did not have metal on the outside, and looked extremely similar to photos posted on the internet of other pieces of debris from aeroplanes”.
Old thoughts. On March 8, 2014 moonset in Banda Aceh took place at 00:10 am (17:10 utc) at the azimuth of 288 deg. The last known heading of MH370 was approximately 290 deg. A question to astronomers: would the Moon be visible at FL350 50 minutes after the moonset?
Could this be a piece of MH370’s fuselage, such as this?
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRkqgYY7avousUiX-gVtF2Sy5i5jzQtqeIVzspS1Ik7LxgY4kH9
@Oleksandr, it would if the moonset about 240 miles at 288 heading had not occurred. In other words the moonset at altitude would be the same time as the moonset at the place where a tangent line on the earth’s surface intersects the plane at altitude.
Does that sound right?
Another image of a B777 fuselage
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab71/richw4/Air%20Canada%20Boeing%20777-300ER/AirCanada777-300ER2.jpg
Oleksander
Re your moonset question:
Answer is no. The Moon would have set about 18.5 minutes later than it did at ground level
At FL35, horizon is 228 SM away, which produces a depression angle of 1.66deg if the Earth were flat. Add another 3deg depression due to the curvature of the Earth, falling away from the observer, which equals 4.66deg. Due to rotation of the Earth, 4.66deg equates to 18.5 minutes, (Earth rotates through 360 deg in 1436 minutes)
Hope that is ok. I’m going out to observe Mars now, and then to bed. See you tomorrow.
RetfF4 – speaking for myself it’s crystal clear to me why western govts would cover Najib’s back. Malaysia is becoming a bit unstable politically and the leader of the opposition is in all likelihood a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Cooperation on terrorism in this region will depend on Najib’s party staying put. Anything that weakens the Malaysian economy – like the collapse of MAS – is gold for someone like Anwar.
Politically, for me at least, the ducks line up.
More than two hours after the Kudahuvsdoo-Maldives sighting at 6.15am (GMT/UTC +5.00) ,MH370 was sighted by myself and other witnesses including children at Prakkanam in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala state in southern India at 9am (GMT/UTC +5.30) overflying our area low and slow from North to South direction.
Though a jet takes only 1hr 15min to reach Kerala from Maldives,but this aluminium white jet with reddish hue on the sides and dark underbelly took an hour extra.Meaning well that it had landed midway most probably at Coimbatore-
IAF for logistic support.
The predawn sightings near to Diego Garcia also mean that MH370 had landed quite earlier in Maldives to refuel.
Also the published satellite ping data indicates that MH370 was airborne till 9.15am Malaysian time. (UTC +8.00) even while it was airborne till 11.30 according to investigators
By the time when it was sighted in Kerala-India at 9am equivalent to 11
.30am Malaysian time,the news was already afloat internationally about the missing MH370.With all airports and radars under alert there is no way that a crash could have been overlooked at such busy hours.Nor could it keep on flying without detection.Therefore the only possibility is that MH370 would have landed soon after its flight over Kerala.
And all circumstantial evidence points to its secretive landing in SLAF-Katunayake in Colombo-Srilanka
https://thehuntformh370.info/content/mh17-sequel-mh370
https://thehuntformh370.info/content/blaines-independent-investigation
Singular,isolated.separated and time and place distant debris discovery are more characteristic of planting
http://jeffwise.net/2016/04/14/mh370-debris-was-planted-ineptly/
http://jeffwise.net/2016/05/02/french-judiciary-report-raises-fresh-doubts-about-mh370-debris/comment-page-1/
http://jeffwise.net/2016/04/19/atsb-sidesteps-debris-planting-issue/
@Rob 4.45pm
Re: your explanation as to why the moon appears as it is.
Interesting and enjoyed that. So can we say that this is a case of the moon playing tricks on the mind’s eye rather than our actual orbs 😀
Thanks anyway
@all
Another day,another debris with no signature
yet no closer are we to any closure…….
ROB Posted May 25, 2016 at 2:35 PM wrote “Possibly trailing edge component from an outboard flap? If it were part of an aileron, it would have a leading edge wouldn’t it?”
Possible T/E outbd flap. Aileron, Yes, NO L/E if just T/E section. L/E forward of this part.
I am leaning towards a T/E part on the Horz. Stab elevator.
Reason: The taper in the section is quite shallow. The Horz. Stab is not designed for primary fuel containment and thus is not overly thick to store fuel. Wing is. Horz. Stab is more designed for aerodynamics; thus thinner depth; 12% of Chord as compared to 15% of chord for the wing. Don’t know exact percentages.
Susie Posted May 25, 2016 at 2:40 PM wrote “What do you think of the second find as linked to by Richard Cole? I’m supposing it’s part of a fairing but could be totally off track there.”
http://ionnews.mu/un-debris-suspecte-de-provenir-du-vol-mh370-retrouve-a-gris-gris-250516/
Fairing Yes; Extreme taper in the part points to a fairing. A-symmetrical shape points to a wing or Horz. Stab part. But could be a wing fairing.
Debris looks like: Nomex H/C with Carbon layup for skins (white paint peeled off). Size? Don’t know. Looks small. Could be part of a Stabilizer strakelets. The Strakelets are the fairings that joint two parts aerodynamically. Horz Stab to Fuselage fairing is a “Strakelet:. Photo of 777 tail section with Strakelets:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flight.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F05%2Fboeing-777-rudder-featured.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flight.org%2Fthe-boeing-777-thrust-asymmetry-compensation-tac&docid=ZTMbYy47bjI_WM&tbnid=xytIf_gjWY8v-M%3A&w=800&h=398&bih=599&biw=1366&ved=0ahUKEwj4086y4vXMAhVW4mMKHUtACN8QMwgvKBIwEg&iact=mrc&uact=8
Could be another fairing on wing (Engine/Control surface.). Don’t reaaly know.
Dr KV Ranjit Posted May 25, 2016 at 7:26 PM wrote “More than two hours after the Kudahuvsdoo-Maldives sighting at 6.15am (GMT/UTC +5.00) ,MH370 was sighted by myself and other witnesses including children at Prakkanam in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala state in southern India at 9am (GMT/UTC +5.30) overflying our area low and slow from North to South direction. …. this aluminium white jet with reddish hue on the sides and dark underbelly ………”
Interesting comment. Jet with a “dark underbelly”
Most jets have a white or gray underbelly. Reduce the heat intake from ground, etc. No reason to paint. Some do have signs of the airlines but not dark?
Could the dark underbelly be from a fire on board?
The following is a list of all locations where MH370 is confirmed to have overflown/landed/crashed:
South China Sea
Nanning, China
Cambodia
Kota Bharu
Diego Garcia
Maldives
Bay of Bengal
South China Sea
Philippines
South Africa
Pulau Perak (on the island itself)
Yubileyniy Aerodrome, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Beshtash Valley, Kyrgyzstan
Kay Tee’s Yacht
Oil Platform Offshore of Vietnam
Off Beach in Southern Mozambique
South of Bali
45 degrees S (debris patch)
SLAF-Katunayake in Colombo-Srilanka
Any additions to the list are welcome.
@Ken, I doubt Dr Ranjit’s sighting was real — I believe we would have heard of it by now — and even if it was real it couldn’t possibly have been MH370, two hours after the Maldives. My BS meter is at 11.
@Jeffwise Understand. Just interested in dark underbelly comment.
@Matty You make the most persuasive argument thus far for western governments being in the know with regards to whatever it is that the Malaysian government is rather avoiding; and then from an aperspectival view. I have nothing to reply with other than my standard arguments regarding 1. the status of forces agreement covering the large contingent of US counter-terrorism operatives and trainers operating in Malaysia; and 2. ICAO protocols, which the US respects to a fault.
In the final analysis US would perhaps indeed be disinclined to press the issue of MH370 in the interest of preserving the present homeostasis in Malaysia which is indeed grounded in UMNO remaining in power. But would there not likewise be a huge downside to the US partnering with Malaysia in whatever form of a cover-up, given future revelations that are relatively certain to emerge?
@sk999
It was “naning” in Malaysia， not Chinese “nan ning”。
Ok I am wondering why and seriously questioning the so-called “authorities” in this case, as to why they only searching a vast area with only some never before used data as the real evidence. Now we have all this debris that keeps appearing on the east side of the indian ocean on small islands and on Mozambique coasts. Why has Malaysia NOT sent any search teams out, I mean if they really wanted to figure out what happened to this plane, you would think they would do everything possible to find out what happened. Instead they leave the search up to Australia in an area where the plane likely isn’t and never was Just what are the Malaysian’s and MAS or now MAB really doing or have done in this case, it appears as if they want it to just go away like the plane. (very sad indeed)
So as someone pointed out here, the only debris found has been found by tourists, this latest piece is almost certainly from the plane also. So why oh why has Malaysia ignored the fact that there is possibly, no most likely MORE debris that is turning up on shores of islands in these areas.
It really tells me that they don’t care, or they do not want the real answers to come out. why not? what are they hiding, they even admitted they have information that can’t be released they said. Now I read an article today that said they were going to release radio transcripts (ATC recordings) to the families in the court cases.
You know television now has all these TV shows that solve crimes in an hour (which is not reality), but still even so 2 years later, Malaysia is still withholding evidence that could prove what happened to the plane, yet they won’t say. It really makes you wonder why. They are most definitely hiding something. I think the families deserve to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones.
So many regular people from all corners of the world, have invested all their time in search of answers to this mystery. We have the IG group who have been crunching the numbers, others looking through satellite images, all the people who spent hours going through tomnod images, people scouring google earth looking for debris or anything that could be a plane. Many arm chair investigators who on their own time searching for answers, and then tourists going and searching on their own dime to get answers. But the real investigators have done as little as possible it seems to look for answers. Why is that? It all adds up to the same thing, they don’t want to know, or they don’t want the world to know. It makes no sense really.
Just some questions that have been muddling around in my brain for a long time. I just think the families deserve the truth, whatever that may be (I don’t have any particular theory btw), but I do know that Malaysia has been lying since the get-go, its so blatantly obvious. Yet nobody in any authoritative capacity is questioning them, why is that???? What are they afraid of.
Is it a question of national security? Terrorism? (less likely because it seems that lately every time there is an incident they cite terrorism before that can be proven). Or is it something else, more sinister than we can imagine. Or is it as simple as poor maintenance on the part of Malaysia? I tend to think the simplest answer is most likely the right one. After all if you all have read that MAS had been in the read for a few years before mh370 happened and then mh17 also.
Sorry to ramble, but post 2 years of this already is starting to wear on me, and many others who’ve been here since the beginning. I feel for the families who are still living the nightmare, and do so every time another airline incident happens. It just isn’t fair that they have to keep going through this without any answers.
I hope that one day soon a breakthrough or even a whistle blower blows it wide open. Keep digging for answers and never give up, the future of aviation safety may depend on finding the answers to this mystery, not to mention closure for the families.
@Rand
It has been over two years, and nothing has emerged. I don’t see that as a likely possibility. I have long endorsed the notion that high ranking Malay officials are involved. In fact, it is the basis for my scenario with ISAT data as a qualifier. I don’t see any possibility that the truth will ever bubble to the surface.
Now that several pieces have been found, perhaps we can assume that there are a LOT of pieces floating around. The honeycomb construction lends itself well to buoyancy …likely even sub-surface.
It also seems probable that they can exhibit extremely varied amounts of biological growth.
Unfortunately, all of the pieces have probably drifted far from the crash site and no longer form a trail back to the source.
We are learning things which should not be forgotten…any discrepancies which don’t line up with our pet theories should not immediately bring forth the premise of conspiracy or the involvement of aliens.
Now, what piece could arrive which would be the most telling? Surely there is at least one large piece swirling around…
@DennisW
curiously, watched again Apollo 13 movie yesterday, they used the “out of the woods” phrase there too…
(yes, I simply stick to lyrics and music videos; only waiting for what comes next)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLf9q36UsBk
@falken
We all overestimate our ability to influence what happens in the world. When you get older you realize that you are, at best, an observer. Being a “crusader” is best left to the young who don’t know any better.
Rand – I doubt western govts would enjoy for a moment getting implicated in this stuff but SE-Asia is a battlefield just like the Middle East. The Malaysian govt is in a similar bind to the Indonesians where they are trying to keep a lid on. They have been forced into a lot of compromise with states like Banda Aceh where religious police roam and beat people. This crowd want independence from the Indon govt and that would be a disaster in the war on terror. Malaysia is getting politically fractious and the Islamists will be exploiting that, so Najib has become important. Parts of Malaysia are restless in the same ways as Aceh and if Najib’s party falls we have a new hot zone.
The US never looked interested in extracting disclosure form the Malaysians but that isn’t really an offence? More like a nod and a wink. The US is often in this situation: if it’s not a case of what they did it’s a case of what they didn’t. I guess there is a war on and the better the Islamists integrate globally the harder it is for us to counter them. They have to be denied space and it has brought Russia to the table. The US is getting blamed for IS/Syria but only 1.4% of IS fighters come from Iraq. Chechnya, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Stans, Gulf States, everywhere. Could Saddam really have stopped what came spewing across the Syrian border? His armies were shit and his only talent was placing the dismembered remains of his opponents on their families doorsteps in plastic bags – and gassing Kurds. When you long for Saddam you know it’s bad.
@DennisW
sure, they are there… and I am 45, BTW ))
crusaders not required though; lot of small actions enough, it seems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYXVPGtRAIg
@DennisW My point is that there perhaps there isn’t anything to emerge in terms of US “participation” in any cover-up, other than acquisecing to Malaysian sovereignty.
@Bugsy You raise a number of valid points regarding the level of Malaysian disinterest in mounting a professional search for more debris. Again, they are not proactive, as to take any action could involve unforeseen consequences; this truly is the Malaysian government MO.
I listened to a short NPR podcast today that featured an interview with (I can’t recall his name) a search and recovery specialist who reiterated that here we are, two years after the loss of MH370, mounting an expensive, time consuming and highly technical deep-sea recovery effort to secure the voice and data recorders of MS804. The alternative, of course, is the now quite rudimentary GPS system most simply known as ‘find my iPhone.’ It is absurd how the logic of “you can secure the voice and data recorders by locating the crash site” trumps (ugh) the straightforward implementation of live-streaming flight data feeds in civil aviation. Two years later – and yet here we are again, witnessing a submarine out searching for signals from a Walkman equipped with a transmitter likely powered by a half-dead battery. Nutty.
@Matty You throw all bullseyes in terms of your geopolitical analysis, in my book. I can only hope that it is not all that cynical as you portray it.
@Rand
Roger that. No one really knows and will ever know. That is my point.
What sustains our interest in this event? Certainly MH17 has largely faded from view. Likewise with GermanWings. I posit that it is the thrill of the hunt. We all realize there is little to be gained for the NOK.
@Ken Goodwin
FWIW I’ve seen images of British Airways planes with a darkish blue underbelly. BA used to fly to Colombo
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/sri-lanka/articles/British-Airways-to-end-flights-to-Sri-Lanka/
In the interest of debunking the Maldives sightings as being MH370:
My recollection from seeing a TV news item back in March 2014 is that the Royal couple (Kate and William), who were holidaying in the Maldives, visited the base at DG arriving early one morning around the date of MH370’s disappearance (I was never able to get the date and time confirmed). Adding my own crazy idea that they did some sightseeing over the Maldives that morning on the way, could that perhaps explain the K. sightings? And if so, after dropping them off, the BA plane may have flown on to Colombo. It would be understandable if they were whisked away from their holiday location to a safer place given that MH370 had vanished in the general area. But do the times fit and would a plane flying from DG to Colombo have passed over Southern India?
@Rob, wrt the moon – that might be it – the context around it. Fascinating. Thank you.
@Ken – I’d never heard ot a strakelet. It could well be, by the look of the picture you linked to.
@all – Darren Chester has issued a press release which suggests another piece has also been discovered in Mozambique.
http://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/chester/releases/2016/May/dc073_2016.aspx
So far I’ve seen no images or mention of this on Twitter or elsewhere.
Some random thoughts:
1: If it did crash into the sea at high speed then we’re possibly just looking for a pair of engines and some landing gear on the bottom, which will be quite hard to find.
2: I have a feeling, based on nothing, that perhaps it didn’t come down all that far from the area where bits are being found. We don’t know how long they have been there for.
It would discount the 7th arc though if that’s where it headed towards.
From day 3 after the mh370 went missing I contacted the authorities to say “I believe the plane to be at Madagascar or close” I. Used dowsing to locate the plane ,Previously , I’ve found lost persons with this ‘tool’ Sceptics may laugh ,but where have 8 pieces of the Mh been found ? How many more pieces do the Malaysians need found ,before they accept the invitation by the Sth Africans to search their waters ? Drift ? Rubbish !
The hole right through this piece suggests a small object hit it with high speed and went straight through.
Could the piece be a part of the left outboard aileron (regarding the tapper)? Dimensions seem to fit?
On this Asiana-crash picture you can see the left outboard aileron missing.
http://www.koogle.tv/media/news/san-francisco-asiana-crash-passengers-seek-w34-billion-in-compensation/
@Susie
I’m glad you appreciated the lunar explanation.
We cover so many topics in this blog, it’s amazing. Who would have thought that between us, we would describe the Coriolis effect in an interesting and accessible way, because that’s exactly what we did.
Re your thoughts on the debris finds – that’s one interpretation of it, but my own opinion, for what it’s worth, is that the pieces which have turned up so far, are what one might expect after a controlled ditching, including the Rodrigues panel,and I think there’s good reason to remain optimistic about finding the rest of the plane on the seabed, in due course.
The second piece seems rather large too.
Above it lying on that rock there seems to be a footstep in the sand indicating it as around 60cm long. Also lying on that table relating to the hight of this table suggest it’s a rather tall piece. Like the ‘Lotter’-piece.
And also like the ‘Lotter’-piece you can see a clear line deviding the part in two segments also suggesting a row of rivets along one side of that line.
And also the thickness and overall construction seems the same.
A pity only this few low resolution pictures are available now.
Hopefully soon better pictures show up.
this case has been on my mind for some time i have contacted CASA in australia ref this flight. the after noon the aircraft went down we were standing on a beach on the southern tip of Tasmania (cockle creek ) it was late in the after noon when an aircraft fitting the same plane flew over us . the strange thing is it NO LIGHTS`ON at all. All aircraft fly with lights on. the plane was flying low and the engines were not working hard it was between 3 and 5 thousand feet i know this as was a parachuter in the army i also worked on Airforce bases for years. Going back to my story when i spoke to CASA Duty office i told him my story and i never heard back from them as he said it was to far for the plane to fly and nobody would like to see government wasting money looking in the wrong place but after looking at all the facts i have a theory of my own and who ever reads this can make up there own mind.
1. the plane that flew over us that afternoon had no lights on i was not sure of colors as i was surprised it had no lights.
2. the height of the aircraft was to low to be flying in that area.
3. we left the next due to storms coming up from the south and as we were travelling about it until MAY when got home to QLD.
4. the southern currents would have taken the plane parts that broke of around the Andtartic some parts could have been stuck in the ice until spring and then floated with the currents around to Africa to worm waters where the mussels would have formed.
5. the storm coming up from the south would have blown bits of the aircraft south into the antartic current i believe the time lines work the current would have caused the parts to float to Africa current and weather chats should support this. i have other theories to support this but like most people i trust our government to find this plane. But i believe this plane was flown to the max and the pilot did all he could to hide where it was going. also believe it is some where off the bottom of Tasmania 100 to two hundred klm in deep water
I hope you’re right, Rob, and that there’s more of it on the floor than I was supposing.
Ge Rijn – could be – though I find myself wondering whether this piece discovered two weeks ago, could actually be part of the original flaperon found last summer?
That’s surely not likely is it?
@Jeff, @all
BTW, noticed anybody the book “Sea of lies” Jeff promotes here? I noticed immediatelly, probably as something expected on timeline, but its interesting nobody mentioned it here yet? (I was away, not rereading all anymore) Not fan of any conspiracies and too lazy to read thick books in fact, the more in english, I can only imagine that it grabs yet another watchers segment around. Jeff, kindly please, have you something to say about it too? Whats interesting, I was also confronted with some thinner novel, as author was discovering itself this spring; he is former psychologist and diplomat for UK and Israel and if I can say, his book s wonderful too, although I dont agree with him in reality about whoo is good and bad, if he is not cheating; I wish you can read it in english, but dont know if translated, probably not yet. Its somehow too much creative to some extent, but in the core is strong message – that the truth and love wins over lie and hate. Here is original comment from 2009 when first edition was released (author hidden behind pseudonym yet – rereleased this year again…)
http://www.radio.cz/cz/rubrika/knihy/spionazni-thriller-ochlazeni-lici-evropu-bez-ruskeho-plynu
… here both editions; transcendece of it all is in looking back for some years
http://eprostor.com/section.aspx?searchText=ochlazen%C3%AD
@John,
Thank you for relating your story to us here. May I ask a couple of questions?
First – do you remember the direction the plane was travelling in?
Second – do you have a rough idea what time it was?
Those would be great if you can recall.
Right. Flaperon original size = 1.6m wide and 2.4m long.
I would have thought the piece just found would be about right for the missing section.
Welcome any thoughts.
@Susie
On the new piece there is a spar visible at the leading edge.
On the flaperon there is the end spar visible where the trailing edge broke off.
There are not two spars in the flaperon right next to eachother in the trailing edge of the flaperon.
So I think it’s not possible this new piece can be a missing part of the traling edge of the flaperon.
JS, ROB,
Yes, it appears a bit too late – the aircraft was at Penang roughly 30 minutes after the moonset at FL350. I have checked Port Blair – the moonset was 20 minutes later compared to Banda Aceh. Anyhow, the heading towards the Moon is an interesting thing. Also deviation at IGARI, which occurred at the time of the moonset.
http://www.timeanddate.com/moon/india/port-blair?month=3&year=2014
RE: EgyptAir
Did I just read this correctly? Detection by satellite? Woah…some government out there broke out some gangster super tech!
From WSJ article:
“The investigator, Capt. Ayman Al Moqadem, told Egypt’s flagship state newspaper Al Ahram that the detection of the signal by satellite narrowed the search zone for the main body of the plane to a radius of about 3 miles.”
@Susie
I looked at the piece again and your thought it may be the trailing edge piece of the flaperon brougt me on another similar thought (that’s how things work..;-).
As you look closely you can see it had no curved leading edge but must have been attached to a bigger ‘flap-like’ piece.
It looks to me it must have been a part of the trailing edge of a flap-like piece at least 3 times the width of this piece of which it broke off at the end spar.
Since it has a aerodynamic curve it cann’t be a part of the rudder imo and it would be too big for an outboard aileron.
It’s full honeycomb so that leaves out a flaperon trailing edge too.
I’ll search for further pictures.. who knows..
Ge Rijn,
Thank you – I didn’t know that the flaperon TE didn’t contain Nomex. I just assumed it would.
I appreciate your thinking this through for me, I think you have a greater understanding of the composition of items.
I think you are correct that it is the TE of a larger part.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/735829349337862144
PICTURES!!
Some great research from Matty and his “epiphany” made me wonder if anyone has ever tried to use Qur’anic verse numbers of significance to possibly guess at a meaningful destination? For example:
20:51 And one who is drowned is a martyr
24:40 The unbeliever is like the darkness in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds
25:53 He is the one who has set free the two kinds of water, one sweet and palatable, and the other salty and bitter. And He has made between them a barrier and a forbidding partition
Now, if you take the points20S 51E; 24S 40E; and 25S 53E you get an eerie looking triangle around Madagascar, two of which are equidistant from Reunion and Mauritius.
I’m not at all suggesting that the plane was flown there. I come to this site again and again because of the valuable analytical rigor you all demonstrate, and I won’t discount sound mathematics and data and 7th arc analyses.
However, spurred on by Matty’s most intriguing line of thinking, I’m just raising the question as to whether data of another sort, i.e., Qur’anic, has ever entered anyone’s formal consideration sets.
Could the piece from Gris-Gris be from the top of an engine?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Pakistan_International_777_Engine.jpg
The left picture seems to resemble it more closely than the right, though.
That’s a lovely photo @Nederland. Is that possibly what Ken was referring to as a ‘strakelet’?
Also – the marked discoloration of the Mozambique piece is concerning.
I haven’t seen that on any other pieces.
“all the people who spent hours going through tomnod images”
I was one of them. I spent days on tomnod and explored more than 31,000 map tiles. I eventually found an area full of white debris (hundreds of them of different sizes and shapes), and there where also tens of ships around these debris. I marked most of these debris but in tomnod there is no way to report interesting objects found, as objects are only automatically reported when five or more different users report them. I then left that area as there were already ships there. If I remember correctly, that area was somewhere near Sri Lanka and the Maldives. I am unable to look back there as the tomnod compaign has finished.
It’s early days, ID-wise, for the Gris-Gris debris, but if I
imagine the ‘bending upwards end’ to not be the result of a
bend fracture, but rather as the actual original curve that
the skin had, then I think it looks like the horizontal
stabilizer – (just outwards from )where the forward edge of
the horizontal stabilizer joins to the fuselage, look at this
picture of Thai Airways HS-TJA;
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/s640x640/e35/sh0.08/11355116_1692840850944160_1751510332_n.jpg
(see, just above where the ‘black strip’ ends (on the leading
edge), and I think I can see that there seems to be a very
slight ‘V’ there in the horizontal stabilizer (at that place).
So imagine if a ‘large chip’ of the skin came off the top of
the horizontal stabilizer, just above the leading edge (at
that place).
Note, also, that the above picture is of the right stabilizer,
but the ‘chip’ could more likely be from the left stabilizer
(in its’ ‘mirror image’ location).
For comparison, here is a youtube of 9M-MRO, view at 0:56 ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocKaeqZTmEM
Alternatively, perhaps the Gris-Gris debris could be from the
wing undercarriage cover panel, which you can see on the
undercarriage in the above video…that cover panel may have
some similar curves…
@Susie
Instead of your previous connection to the flaperon this looks like it good be a piece of the missing trailing edge. A piece of the underside or upperside panel.
Anyway it seems to be another piece of a trailing edge of some kind to me.
If so, all those wing parts are getting realy substantial against only one interior part.
And the muslim ‘drowning’ motive could well be of importance in case of a controlled flight and ditching by a muslim pilot if he had the choice, cause for ‘drowning’ he would choose to ditch the plane.
Good thought @BuyerNinety – I’m not sure, there seems to be a line of rivets approximately a third of the way along the piece, and I can’t tell which parts of a plane would have these rivets in this location.